Rodin
Rodin is a weapons dealer, a bartender, and the proprietor of The Gates of Hell. He is the one that created Bayonetta's set of pistols, referred to as Scarborough Fair. He seems to be from Inferno and tells Bayonetta that he'll trade her items from his shop for halos that she collects from the angels she kills, claiming they're worth a fortune downstairs. If Bayonetta brings him a golden LP, Rodin uses its angelic melody to make the demons go berserk and lure them out of their lair, so he can craft weapons out of them, though he seems to become very tired and heavily injured after doing so. Rodin & The Gates Of Hell From Antonio's Notebook: : There is a place beloved by wanted men and rogues, where money and power rule all. It is where I have established by office. Those who call this place by its given name are instantly identified as newcomers, as the tired hands of this rathole all call it by a single name only – The Dump. : Bloody battles and dirty disputes over money are an everyday occurrence here, and the concept of concern for one’s fellow man was long since lost on The Dump’s denizens. What the people here are after, what they love to see, is not of this world. : They thirst for the uproar only the occult can inspire. The appearance of a spectre, a man being devoured by a demon… these are the snacks they eat as they drink and cavort in The Dump’s numerous watering holes. It is this place that I have come on my pilgrimage in search of a grasp on reality. : The Dump is a wretched hive for all sorts of scum and villainy;; home to everyone from black market business men, to informants, and devil hunters in between. But amongst them all, one man is particularly strange. His name is Rodin, proprietor of “The Gates of Hell” bar. His front may be that of a bartender, but rumor has it he is actually an arms dealer. Of course, if a man such as myself were to visit his establishment, there is no way all of his secrets would be laid bare; however, I can tell just by the air around him that he is a dangerous man. Unlike the standard assortment of thugs in this place, his is a sort of danger on a truly different level. According to my colleagues, if one carries enough clout here, Rodin is known to provide a gun or blade should the fee prove satisfactory. : That is all I have been able to wring out of people here. There are also rumours that if you enter the bar from some sort of hidden entrance, he will provide you things money cannot buy… Or so sayeth the gossips in this occult obsessed town. They even go so far as to say these things are not made via normal means, but are weapons made from materials available only in Inferno. : In The Dump there are enough rumours to rot one’s ears, and if I hadn’t seen the fresco of the Trinity of Realities, a staple of the Vigridian religions, on Rodin’s wall, I would have dismissed talk of him as nothing more than these tall tales. In any case, if I am to fully investigate this man’s secrets, I will surely be able to obtain the truth I so desperately seek. : However, aimless sniffing around in this town is a great way to wind up dead. I’ll have to be prudent and not leave things to chance. The Platinum Ticket When the player buys the "Platinum Ticket" for 10 million halos, Rodin states that these are enough for him to get back to his old and real form. A boss fight begins against "The Infinite One: Father Rodin", an angelic version of him, using quite a similar model as Father Balder. According to journal entries that the player picks up during the quest, Rodin was actually an angel who successfully conquered a section of Paradiso some time before the events of the game, was eventually deposed and stripped of his powers, and used the Platinum Ticket to get back to his original power. He is easily the strongest enemy encountered in the game (albeit a completely optional, hidden boss), absolutely immune to being stunned and really hard to stagger, and possessing attacks capable of taking as much as a third of Bayonetta's total hit points in just one combo. By defeating him, he turns back to "normal" and the player receives the weapon called "Rodin", which includes all angelic weapons of normal enemies and a golden chainsaw. As Rodin is a weapon manufacturer and the weapon named after him is a combination of the angels' weapons, it might be possible, that he also produced the weapons of the Laguna. With his past involving the light, it is unknown why he assists Bayonetta, who is a witch of the dark. The fact that her father, Balder, was a Lumen Sage might have some bearing on his choice, or it may just be that he has found different company since falling out with the high angels. Another theory is that Rodin tagged along with Bayonetta so that she would restore him to his original form, so that he could once again rule Paradiso. Of course, it could be as simple as his stated reason - as an arms maker, he wanted someone gifted to use his creations. Quotes *''"Your fights are yours alone. I'm only here to watch my handiwork in action."'' *''"You really wanna make a deal with the devil?! ... Relax, I'm just fuckin' with ya"'' *''"You here for buisness, or pleasure? Either way, I'll hook ya up"'' *''"Shit's gonna get real"'' *''"Enzo, you dead-beat motherfucker''" *''"You die, and I'm gonna have to go back to that hole chasin' after the money you owe me."'' *''Another LP? Heh... workin' me to the bone. But no need to pity me, I was bored anyways. Let me go whip some things into shape for ya.'' Trivia *Throughout the game, Rodin makes references to various other games. For example, telling Bayonetta that he won't attach a chainsaw to her arm (reference to MadWorld or Evil Dead and possibly one of Bayonetta's Climax attacks where she uses a chainsaw to cut down her opponent), and imitating the Merchant's infamous "Whudya buyin'?" quote from Resident Evil 4's merchant (minus the "stranger" tidbit and claiming that he "heard it in a game once"). One of Rodin's attacks greatly resembles the Shun Goku Satsu, Akuma's signature attack from the Street Fighter series. *In giving Bayonetta the weapon "Rodin," a pair of rings to be worn on the wrists or ankles, Rodin did technically end up attaching a chainsaw to Bayonetta's arm, though not willingly. *When he gets back from weapon gathering, the blood on his face resembles that of Sony's God Of War mascot Kratos' facial mark of his extensive tattoo. *When Rodin's eyes are shown glowing red through his shades, his expression resembles that of Resident Evil antagonist Albert Wesker when he becomes enraged or becomes superhuman. *In the final cutscene of the Epilogue, if you pay attention in the background of the real Gates of Hell, you'll see Bayonetta's weapons. *His name is inspired by Auguste Rodin, a sculpter who made a statue called 'The Gates of Hell' in honor of poet Dante Aligheri's "Inferno" portion of "The Divine Comedy", which is also the name of his bar. *Oddly, all of the character art for Rodin in the unlockable extras never uses that name, giving his name as "Mephisto", the name of a German folklore demon most prominently mentioned in the Faust legend and occasionally has been used as another name for the Devil himself. Appropriately, Rodin's role is broadly similar to the traditional Devil: a fallen angel who is thwarted and punished from trying to conquer heaven, is feared by said heaven, rules his own "sub-basement" location after his punishment, and jokes about the "deals" he provides Bayonetta. Category:Characters Category:Bosses Category:Males Category:Angels